Tip leads to arrests in alleged homeless check-cashing scheme

Tuesday

Oct 8, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 8, 2013 at 9:39 AM

STOCKTON - An alert bank employee called authorities after noticing that a man attempting to open a new account matched the description of a person involved in recent fraudulent activity, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.

The Record

STOCKTON - An alert bank employee called authorities after noticing that a man attempting to open a new account matched the description of a person involved in recent fraudulent activity, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office.

The call also led to two arrests and possibly the end of a string of thefts from banks throughout Stockton, the Bay Area, Modesto and Elk Grove.

The tip to the Sheriff's Office came shortly after 11 a.m. Saturday from an unidentified bank in the 6400 block of Pacific Avenue. Deputies responded to a call about one of the suspects, Keith Eric Pylman, 21, who was identified as a man who cashed three fraudulent checks totaling $2,000.

The bank employee stalled Pylman long enough for deputies to arrive and begin questioning him. The checks he cashed had apparently been fabricated and not stolen, authorities said. Through their investigation, deputies said, they learned that Pylman had accomplices waiting for him in a van in the parking lot.

Deputies found the van and its two occupants, Sherone Bradley, 32, and another person and learned that Bradley had picked up Pylman and the other suspect, whose identity was not disclosed, from a mission in Modesto and offered them the opportunity to make quick cash by participating in the scheme, officials said.

According to a sheriff's report, Bradley had been putting up the two homeless people for a week in hotels and driving them around to banks in Northern California.

In return for them successfully cashing fraudulent checks, they were given $100, authorities said. Pylman admitted to investigators that he cashed seven to 10 checks and said the other suspect also cashed "a few," according to a report.

Pylman and Bradley were arrested on suspicion of a number of forgery, identity theft and conspiracy crimes.